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"But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power." -- Howard Zinn
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? —Romans 8:35God does not keep His child immune from trouble; He promises, “I will be with him in trouble . . .” (Psalm 91:15). It doesn’t …
About the only lesson Barack Obama has learned from the Hillary and Bill health insurance debacle of 1993-1994 is to leave Michelle Obama out of his current drive to get something—anything—through the Congress labeled “reform”.
Otherwise, he is making the same mistakes of blurring his proposal, catering to right-wing Democrats and corporatist Republicans, who want an even mushier “reform” scam, and cutting deals with the drug, hospital, and health insurance industries.
His political opponents become bolder with each day as they see his party base in Congress weakening, his polls dropping, and a confused public being saturated with unrebutted propaganda by the insatiable profiteering, subsidized health care giants.
SOAPBOX #28 – Cindy welcomes the trenchant insights of the famous American Intellectual: Gore Vidal. They discuss life in America during the Obama era. Mr. Vidal’s penetrating and cogent commentary sheds desperately needed light on the subjects of his analysis. Listen in: it’s important!
How about this for a New Rule: Not everything in America has to make a profit. It used to be that there were some services and institutions so vital to our nation that they were exempt from market pressures. Some things we just didn’t do for money. The United States always defined capitalism, but it didn’t used to define us. But now it’s becoming all that we are.
I wrote a small article yesterday about an e-mail I had received from Commondreams.org. The article begged the question of why didn’t the staff at Commondreams.org understand what and who Barack Obama was before now? This thought led me to wonder if any of the so-called “progressive” journalists ever bothered to vet Barack Obama? When I say “vet”, I’m bringing up the question of whether they actually checked his political history or even bothered to see what corporate entities were paying for his campaign? As journalists, wouldn’t you expect that these writers would have investigated Barack Obama before they started to write of his “glorious” exploits?
I know that most “progressive” writers studied McCain and Sarah Palin’s backgrounds. There wasn’t much that the GOP couldn’t hide from them. What I can’t understand to this day, is why weren’t Obama’s corporate ties brought to the fore? This is particularly apt after the discoveries that were brought out about Goldman-Sachs. They just happened to be one of the largest bankrollers for the future president. I wrote about it several times. You would believe that some astute so-called “journalist” would have taken the hint from me and pulled up opensecrets.org, The Center for Responsive Politics site that tracks campaign donations. The information is still there to see, that is, if anyone is at all interested. Just by following his biggest contributors, you could see what direction Obama was going to take. Here are eleven of his largest contributors, just in case going to opensecrets.org is just too much to ask of you;
Bill Moyers sits down with Trudy Lieberman, director of the health and medical reporting program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and Marcia Angell, senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard Medical School and former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Osama bin Laden Dead or Alive?” with Dr. David Ray Griffin on his new book by the same name. We examine all the evidence, both that indicating bin Laden died, and that suggesting he is still alive; the important bin Laden videos and audio recordings, the significance, if any, in the timing of their release; statements by significant political and intelligence figures; and why the hunt for bin Laden must proceed.
[...]
Report: Bin Laden Already Dead
Fox News
Wednesday, December 26, 2001
Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.
“The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead,” the source said.
[...]
Translation of Funeral Article in Egyptian Paper:
al-Wafd, Wednesday, December 26, 2001 Vol 15 No 4633
News of Bin Laden’s Death
and Funeral 10 days ago
Islamabad -
A prominent official in the Afghan Taleban movement announced yesterday the death of Osama bin Laden, the chief of al-Qa’da organization, stating that binLaden suffered serious complications in the lungs and died a natural and quiet death. The official, who asked to remain anonymous, stated to The Observer of Pakistan that he had himself attended the funeral of bin Laden and saw his face prior to burial in Tora Bora 10 days ago. He mentioned that 30 of al-Qa’da fighters attended the burial as well as members of his family and some friends from the Taleban. In the farewell ceremony to his final rest guns were fired in the air. The official stated that it is difficult to pinpoint the burial location of bin Laden because according to the Wahhabi tradition no mark is left by the grave. He stressed that it is unlikely that the American forces would ever uncover any traces of bin Laden. http://www.welfarestate.com/binladen/funeral/
